4 Ways to Kick-Start Your Holiday Planning to Get Ahead  

Nearly a quarter of Americans have started saving for the holidays already. At the same time, inflation concerns are real. Gartner reported that over 40 percent of consumers believe companies are hiking prices to increase profits, and 65 percent will likely pull back spending in one area they’ve traditionally purchased in.

However, brands can still succeed in Q4 with the right operational and marketing strategies. In 2021, 27 percent of holiday shoppers planned to buy gifts before the end of September. Despite consumer’s purchasing sooner, too many retailers still wait until the last minute to build marketing material, develop promotions, or seed their products with influencers. This delay can lead to staffing challenges and inventory issues during the holiday rush. Even worse, it provides less runway for revenue during the most critical time of the year.

There's still time to develop and execute on a holiday strategy. Here are four ways to get ahead:

1. Plan, plan, plan, perfecting your timeline — and your promos.

The data tells us now is the time to be testing. Start by creating a plan, budget and revenue forecast. Then, gauge the investment required to meet your financial targets. From there, build a promotion strategy based on your margins and ability to discount to maintain profitability as you scale. This will give you insights and leverage to spend smarter going deeper into the holidays. For example, test lighter promotions in October, and then increase discounts in November as Black Friday approaches.

Keep in mind Q4 isn't the time for complicated offers (i.e., tiered promos). You should know if percent off or dollars off works better for your brand before competition spikes.

Explore diversifying where you sell your products, as consumers are searching for brands and/or products in various marketplaces like Amazon.com, Walmart, Instacart and beyond (and prepare now for Prime Day in October). If testing a new channel, now is the time. Don’t wait until November.

2. Spend when no one is spending.

While CPMs for social media have skyrocketed because of a saturated marketplace and product updates, TikTok has become the new ground for holiday with lower CPMs and CPCs than Facebook and Instagram, historically. Now is the time to begin leveraging TikTok ads and brand promotion to be part of the momentum and maximize success during the holidays.

Additionally, allocate more spend from now to November on awareness campaigns and creative testing. Creative needs to be thumb-stopping and push people to convert. Get ahead by building a creative playbook featuring options ready to flight at different stages of your testing journey. By the time peak holiday sales start in November you should know if a text-only creative outperforms a product ad, or if a big bright image with a punchy quote performs better than the one without it, to elevate the successful option during the holidays.

3. Explore darks ads through influencers.

Dark ads appear to come from an influencer, but they’re not part of that person’s regular feed. You, as the marketer, can make changes to the ad directly. And, because the ad comes from the influencer’s feed, it’s one of the most authentic and credible forms of influencer advertising.

When planning content, develop material that aligns with that influencer’s brand and style. If you’re a fashion retailer, for example, you may want to launch a campaign around the perfect New Year’s outfits. This can only work if you start planning early, as you'll need to get your product into the influencer's hands with ample time for content creation, as well as time to develop specific landing or collection pages.

4. Build social proof through PR, customer reviews and social.

Digital ads may be your bread and butter for attracting and converting customers, but they can't be the only place you focus your attention. Identify ways to build brand awareness to create trust with your customers, such as combining affiliate and PR strategies to secure placements in holiday gift guides. Collect strong customer reviews you can use as social proof across digital and in ads. In addition, strengthen your social accounts so consumers feel confident in purchasing from your brand.

What's most important is to tell a story that focuses on what your customers care about rather than just the product. A clothing company, for instance, might focus on its sustainability initiatives instead of the clothes themselves. Also, look at how your competition is marketing their wares. What gaps or angles are they not addressing that you can?

While there's still time to develop a strong holiday strategy, it’s critical to think holistically about an integrated Q4 program across each stage of the customer lifecycle. Do it well and you’ll generate notable, long-lasting brand awareness and nurture and convert both customers and prospects, delivering what could be a significant impact on your revenue.

Sarah Makinaci is managing director, integrated marketing at Power Digital, a tech-enabled growth marketing firm that has worked with brands like Casper, P&G, Uniqlo, and Airbnb. Samantha Stern is group director, fashion at Power Digital.